Apple nabs Amazon search expert to take charge of Siri

AllThingsD is reporting that Apple has hired A9.com co-founder and CEO Bill Stasior to head the group responsible for Siri, the iOS "personal assistant." Stasior, who earned a PhD from MIT for his work on automated analysis of video content, headed up advanced development at AltaVista before founding and later leading Amazon's independent A9 search service. The acquisition of someone with a background so steeped in search suggests Apple may be preparing to further reduce its reliance on Google.

A9 officially launched in late 2004, combining Google search results with Amazon and IMDB data and offering some unique notation features which were especially handy for research. While A9 hasn't made much news since, the Amazon subsidiary offers a number of search services, including the turn-key Amazon CloudSearch for analyzing customer data, "smarter" search-based ad serving, an image-based "visual" search service, and a product search service largely powered by Amazon's vast database of items various and sundry.

Stasior worked as the head of search and navigation at Amazon for nearly a year before co-founding its independent A9 search company in May 2004. He originally served as vice president of engineering, but took over as A9's CEO in 2006. Now he will presumably use his experience in "information retrieval, machine learning, statistical analysis, natural language processing, and advanced user interfaces" to elevate Siri from its current "beta" status to a polished final release. (We're also hoping Stasior can improve the search results from Apple's revamped Maps database.) Stasior would also be replacing former Siri co-founder Adam Cheyer, who recently left Apple's mobile software division in June.

Stasior's move to Apple is yet another in a string of competitive hires by the Cupertino company. Apple has also reportedly been recruiting experienced Google engineers to improve its much-maligned iOS Maps replacement, and hired former AMD chief engineer Jim Mergard away from Samsung earlier this month.